The State of Deseret

In 1844, the leader of
the Mormon church, Joseph Smith, was murdered by a mob in Illinois.
The new leader of the church, Brigham Young, began to move his followers
west. The Mormons settled in the Great Salt Lake
Valley, in Utah, which was controlled by Mexico. Young petitioned
Congress for the creation of a new state, as did the leaders of California
and New Mexico. Only California became a state at that time, 1849.

At the end of the war with
Mexico, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the
land where the State of Deseret was located became of part of the United
States. Brigham Young established an independent republic, the state
of Deseret in 1849. In 1850 Utah Territory was created as a part
of the Compromise of 1850. There was conflict between the Mormons
and the federal government for a number of years. In 1857 that conflict
almost erupted into war. President Buchanan sent federal troops to
Utah and Brigham Young called many Mormon settlers back to Utah to defend
Salt Lake City. Western Nevada was a part of Utah Territory at that
time, and many of the settlers who returned left their farms and businesses,
particularly in the Carson Valley.

Differences between Mormon
controlled Utah Territory and the federal government were not settled until
the 1890s. In 1896 Utah became a state.